Discover Yourself - Act 8
by DreamSeeker
Summary: Shelby confides in Sophie. A search party tries to locate John. Troy has a surprising question for Peter.


"Discover Yourself" - Act 8  
  
Disclaimer: The characters of Peter and Sophie, and any Cliffhangers mentioned, do not belong to me. I have added some of my own characters into the mix.   
  
"Knowing others is wisdom; Knowing the self is enlightenment; Mastering others requires force; Mastering the self needs strength." - Tao te Ching  
  
  
  
  
John woke up early, after tossing and turning most of the night. He was mad at himself for letting Liz get under his skin. *No big surprise, after the way I treated her,* he thought. *She chose the guy with the college degree. Just like the others.* He knew he had to get out of there and decided to go for his run earlier than usual. He quietly got dressed and left for the woods, leaving Troy and Mike sleeping soundly.   
  
  
  
  
Lynn sat up in her bed and stretched, yawning as she looked around the room. There was Liz, still sleeping, but where was Ali? She frowned, thinking about how quiet Ali was, and hoped she was okay.   
  
Laying back down, Lynn smiled as she remembered cooking dinner with Troy the night before. He was so different, unlike any other guy she'd ever met. He was confident without being cocky, easygoing without being lazy, and very intellectual without being a know-it-all. For a moment, she allowed herself to imagine what it would be like to kiss him, for him to hold her in his arms. *It's not going to happen, so I might as well not think like that,* she chastised herself silently, then shut her eyes and tried to go back to sleep.   
  
  
  
  
Ali stepped out of the main lodge, a frown on her face. *They must have locked the kitchen after my little 'incident'*, she thought to herself. She sighed as her stomach growled yet again. Her hunger had awakened her, so she walked down to the main lodge to get some food. She had barely touched her lunch yesterday, she'd been so nervous about her upcoming one-on-one with Sophie. Then, she'd been surprised when Sophie didn't even bring up her weight or eating habits. Ali had wanted to make losing weight one of her goals, but she'd been too afraid to bring up the topic with Sophie. At dinner last night, she could feel Sophie glancing over at her, causing her to not want to eat her dinner. Now, she was starving, and she didn't know how she was going to wait a few more hours until breakfast. The last thing she wanted to do was ask for food and bring attention to herself.   
  
Ali stopped suddenly, looking towards the parked cars in the driveway. *Hey, I drove here. I can just go into Agnes and get something to eat at that mini-mart I passed.* Feeling better already, she quickly headed for the dorm to retrieve her car keys.   
  
  
  
  
Lynn was almost back asleep when she heard someone come in. Opening her eyes, she saw Ali get her car keys and once again leave. *That's odd. I wonder where she's going.*  
  
  
  
  
Sophie stood in the doorway of the guest bedroom, watching Shelby sleep. Sophie observed that the covers were all over the place and surmised that Shelby must have had a fitful night of sleep. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully for now, which Sophie was grateful for. Sophie felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned around to face Peter. He motioned for her to follow him, and they went into the kitchen.   
  
"Mornin'," he said, giving her a smooch. "Hey, you left me some coffee, thanks," he teased her, accomplishing his goal of getting her to smile. He poured himself a cup of coffee and refreshed her cup, then both went outside to sit and watch the early morning sun.   
  
*This is so nice,* Sophie thought as she leaned her head on Peter's shoulder. *How did I get this lucky?* She turned to Peter all of a sudden and gave him a long, hard kiss.   
  
Peter chuckled after the kiss. "Whoa, there, tiger," he said with a grin. "Where did that come from?"  
  
Sophie shrugged, looking into Peter's eyes. "I don't know, I guess I'm just feeling very fortunate." She picked up his hand and linked her fingers with his. "What would I do without my mountain man?" she said with a grin. Her grin faded, though, as she thought about Shelby more. Peter could almost sense what she was thinking.  
  
"Soph, I'll have to go up to campus soon. Do you want to stay here, so you can be here when Shelby wakes up?" Peter knew the answer to the question before he even asked it.  
  
Sophie nodded, affirming his thoughts. "Yeah, I won't push her, but something big happened, Peter. I can just tell."  
  
Peter hoped she was wrong but doubted it. "We also need to figure out if Shelby should stay here with us or if she should stay in the dorm."  
  
Sophie frowned. "I just thought she'd stay here with us. The six 'Discover Yourself' participants are older than Shelby, and they don't have to abide by the same set of rules as what she's used to."   
  
Peter mulled it over, deciding she was right. "We're just going to have to be careful about how we handle this. Maybe Shelby can help with the summer program. I don't want her here alone all the time. Not that I don't trust her, because I do, but she can certainly go on the excursions with us, stuff like that."   
  
Sophie smiled, happy that Peter agreed to keep Shelby with them. "We'll work it out." She looked back at the morning sun. "We always do."   
  
  
  
  
John hadn't realized how deep into the woods he had run until it was too late. Now, he was utterly lost, and in desperate need of water. He was debating what to do, when he heard the sound of running water. Soon, he found a stream, and cupped his hands to drink the cool water. He filled his water bottle, grateful that he had brought it along. He decided his best move was to get to a higher altitude. Then, maybe he could see Horizon's campus, and figure out the best way to get back there.   
  
John followed the stream for a bit until he saw some land above him. He could either hike by the stream some more and try to find a path up there, or he could scale the rocky terrain to get to the top from where he was now. *I've rock-climbed before, it shouldn't be that bad.* He found a stick to use for balance and began to climb towards the top.   
  
  
  
  
Peter pulled into the driveway and noticed Ali hurrying toward her dorm. He made a mental note to talk to her later, he hadn't really gotten a chance to become acquainted with her yet. Plus, he might have to take over the group for awhile, if Sophie had her hands full with Shelby.   
  
Peter went into the main lodge, where breakfast was about to be served. He noticed that, besides Ali, John was missing from the group.   
  
  
  
  
Ali ran into the dorm, hoping that Peter hadn't seen her. She knew no one else was in there, she'd watched them all go into the main lodge for breakfast. No one had been able to see her from her hiding place, but she saw everything, including the kiss Mike and Liz shared before they went inside together. *Figures, the one guy here I was interested in. Why would he want me, though?* She looked at the bag of wrappers she had to throw away, she didn't want anyone to find them.   
  
Ali lifted up her ovesized sweatshirt, removing another bag full of wrapped food, and placed the bag under her bed. She hurried to the main lodge, not wanting to be gone any longer than necessary. She breathed a sigh of relief. Her plan had worked.   
  
  
  
  
Sophie was sipping her coffee and reading the paper at the kitchen table when Shelby walked in. She looked better than she had the night before, but still looked like she could use more sleep. "Good morning," Sophie said, trying to sound enthusiastic instead of concerned.   
  
"Hi," Shelby mumbled, unsure of what to do. She looked at Sophie and finally sat down across from her at the table.   
  
"Do you want some coffee?" Sophie asked her.   
  
"You mean I can actually have coffee?" Shelby said in her usual sarcastic mode.  
  
Sophie smiled and got up to get her a cup. "Peter and I only drink decaf. Here you go." She handed Shelby a cup.  
  
"Decaf. Figures." Shelby took a sip of her coffee. "Thanks."   
  
"You're welcome." Sophie paused, studying Shelby, who was looking all around the kitchen. Sophie realized that the kids hadn't been in their house before, except for Kat, and that was when she wasn't supposed to be in there. "How did you sleep?"  
  
"Oh, fine, I guess." Shelby kept sipping her coffee, wondering how long she could go on avoiding the line of questioning that she knew was inevitable. "Where's Peter?"  
  
"Oh, he had to get to campus to get the summer program started. He said he'd give your mom a call after breakfast, let her know you made it up here okay. Unless you want to call her yourself," she added after a pause.   
  
"No, Peter can call, that's fine. Like she even cares," she muttered. Shelby had her eyes on her coffee, and was startled when Sophie put her hand on Shelby's arm. Shelby jumped up, knocking away Sophie's hand and spilling the coffee.   
  
"Shel," Sophie started to say, standing up and moving toward her.   
  
"I'm sorry, Sophie. I'll clean it up." Shelby ran around to the sink, grabbed paper towels, and wiped the coffee up off the table.   
  
"Shelby, don't worry about the coffee. I want you to sit down. We need to talk about this." Sophie looked firmly at Shelby, who slowly sank back down into her chair, once again clasping her hands tightly in front of her.   
  
Shelby knew there was no getting out of it now. She just had to figure out how much she should tell Sophie about what had happened.   
  
Sophie put another cup of coffee in front of Shelby. "That's the good thing about decaf, you don't have to worry about how many cups you drink," she said with a smile. Shelby didn't respond, but continued to sit with her hands clasped, looking down.   
  
Sophie decided to use the gentle approach. She had never seen Shelby so quiet and withdrawn. "Shelby, why are you back?" Sophie asked her quietly.   
  
Shelby's mind was racing, thinking back to the past week and everything that had happened. When she looked up at Sophie, she had tears in her eyes, much to Sophie's surprise. Shelby quickly looked down again, she didn't want to cry in front of Sophie, or anyone, for that matter.   
  
"Jess was at summer camp, so she wasn't home at all," Shelby started out in a shaky voice. "It was just me and my mom there." Shelby remembered how she had been cautiously optimistic, hopeful that this time she had with her mom would do them both good, and help them get over the pain of the past. She shook her head, not believing how wrong she'd been.   
  
"Shelby?" Sophie could sense that her mind had wandered off, and she was scared for Shelby. She'd hardly ever seen Shelby cry. Sophie was bracing herself for the worst.  
  
"Oh, sorry." She cleared her throat, then continued. "So, my mom had this new boyfriend, Glenn. He was around a lot, and he seemed nice enough. He even took us out to dinner a couple of times, and cooked dinner for us once." *Which was more than Walt ever did for us, that's why I let my guard down,* she thought. She took a sip of coffee, her hands shaking a little, then continued. "One evening, he stopped by, and my mom was still at work." Shelby was wringing her hands together now and couldn't bear to look at Sophie. "He... he woudn't leave after I told him she wasn't there. He said I was the most beautiful..." she stopped herself, getting choked up, and swallowed hard. She couldn't keep doing this, she couldn't tell Sophie the entire story, or she would lose it for sure. She pulled herself together. "To make a long story short - he came on to me. I told him to get lost, and he did. He never came back. My mom was less than thrilled, she told me I ruin everything, and sent me back here." She looked up at Sophie, who had tears in her eyes.   
  
Something didn't seem right to Sophie. She felt like Shelby wasn't telling her everything. Taking a deep breath, Sophie asked softly, "Shelby, did he hurt you?"  
  
Shelby was shocked that Sophie had asked that question. She had expected Sophie to ask her about her feelings toward her mom, not about Glenn. "No," she answered quietly, unable again to look at Sophie.   
  
Sophie let out a big sigh, realizing Shelby was done talking for now. "Okay." She got up to wash her coffee cup. "Well, we should get a move on," she said after a while. "I have to search your bags." Sophie looked at Shelby apologetically, who nodded.  
  
"Yeah, I knew that was coming," she mumbled. "What else do we have to do?"  
  
"Just get you settled in, and you can meet the people here for the summer program. Is it okay if you stay here, with me and Peter, for the summer?" Sophie looked at Shelby, trying to gauge her response.  
  
Shelby had to keep herself from smiling. "Yeah, that's fine by me." She got up to wash her cup, but Sophie took it and washed it for her.   
  
"Shel, if you ever need to talk, I'm here. Okay?" Sophie looked at her intently.   
  
"Yeah, okay. I'm going to go take a shower." Shelby left the kitchen, smiling to herself. *Same old Sophie.*  
  
Sophie waited until she heard Shelby get into the shower, then called Peter and told him the story. They both agreed that Shelby should have a physical the next day, just in case she wasn't being truthful about Glenn. It was also common practice when the students came back on campus after summer break.   
  
Peter informed Sophie about seeing Ali sneaking back to her dorm, then told her that Ali had barely touched her breakfast. Plus, John was still missing, and Peter was starting to get worried about him. He was about to call Curtis and have him look for John.   
  
"Do you want us to go look for him?" Sophie knew Peter would hold himself responsible if anything happened to John.   
  
Peter sighed, knowing it was not good that John was still missing. "Yeah, I guess we'd better, Soph. Why don't you and Shelby come up here, and we'll split into 2 teams? I don't want to take a chance of anyone else getting lost."   
  
  
  
  
Peter ended up deciding to take Lynn along with him, while Troy went with Sophie and Shelby to conduct their own search. Ali had begged off, saying she didn't feel well. Liz and Mike offered to stay behind and clean up breakfast dishes, and be there in case John showed up or in case Ali felt worse. Peter noticed that Shelby seemed to be sticking close to Sophie's side, which seemed unusual for her.   
  
As Peter and Lynn searched, they chatted about odds and ends, but nothing too personal. Both were getting increasingly worried about John. About two hours after the search had started, Sophie radioed Peter.   
  
"Peter! We found him. He's down by the river, and it looks like he fell and broke his leg. I'll give you our coordinates, can you meet us? We need help carrying him back." Sophie gave Peter the information, and Peter and Lynn hurried to the site.   
  
John was barely conscious and kept calling Shelby "Sara". Shelby helped the group, but wouldn't get too near John. Troy noticed that she seemed spooked by John.   
  
The group got John back to campus safely, where there was an ambulance waiting for John. Peter and Troy went with him to the hospital, leaving the rest at Horizon.   
  
"Okay, let's try to still make something of this day," Sophie said to Lynn. "Would you go and get the others, and tell them to meet up at the main lodge in 15 minutes?" Lynn nodded and ran off toward the dorms.   
  
Sophie looked over at Shelby, who appeared okay despite being tired. "We're going to have a group meeting, then I have to do a couple of one-on-ones, okay?"  
  
Shelby just shrugged and followed Sophie to the lodge. Sophie was starting to pick up on Shelby staying close to her, and also thought it was uncharacteristic of Shelby. Lynn came back about 10 minutes later, out of breath.   
  
"Sophie, you're not going to like it," Lynn said grimly. "Ali says she's still sick, but I don't think she is. And Mike and Liz - well, let's just say that they're busy right now."  
  
  
  
  
Peter and Troy sat in the ER while the doctors set John's leg. John was going to have to stay in the hospital at least overnight, and he wouldn't be able to finish the summer program at Horizon.   
  
"Tough break for John," Troy said sympathetically.   
  
Peter was blaming himself for John's accident. "I should've told you guys to always stay on campus. I mean, we can't force you to stay there, but I never made it clear. It's easy to get lost out there."   
  
"Yeah, but we found him. That's the important thing, right?" Troy smiled as Peter nodded and looked at him gratefully.   
  
Troy decided to broach the subject with Peter that he'd been thinking about. "Peter, what all does it take to be a counselor here?"  
  
Peter looked at him in surprise. "Why? Are you interested?"  
  
Troy smiled, voicing for the first time what he'd been thinking for the past few days. "Yeah, I think I might be."  
  
  
  
  
Next time:  
- Someone finds out Ali's secret.  
- Troy weighs the pros and cons of being a counselor.  
- Will Shelby go through with her physical?  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
